As I’m sure you’re aware the news regarding the spread of the Omicron variant has not been good and the Welsh  Assembly Government has issued new regulations, The committee has therefore decided not to proceed with re-opening  the Club House at this stage and to continue on with zoom meetings.

A revised programme is available for download here

We have provisionally decided on St. David’s Day 1^st March 2022 to meet again with our friends.  This will be confirmed at our February 22nd committee meeting in light of guidance issued by Welsh Assembly Government.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Stay Safe!

We are grateful to Stephen Rees our Programme Secretary and Denice Evans putting together a programme that represents what we feel would be appropriate at this time. This shows a Virtual programme until the year end and then a return to normal in 2022.

Download Winter 2021/22 Programme

The Beginners’ nights at the moment we are holding in abeyance as they require closer physical contact between the instructor and the student in demonstrating camera functionality using the student’s equipment or helping them take images of various set ups and models. We need to take some time to review that situation as the World clears from COVID and we better understand the physical and actual constraints.

Our 2021 Salon has now been judged and all the results published.

Neath CC was well represented by entrants but unfortunately only 3 people gained acceptances.  These were – 

Tim Kavanagh – with 3 Acceptances and 3 Medals

David Edwards – with 3 Acceptances

Colin Kelly – with 1 acceptance and Medal

Commiserations to all other members of NDPS who entered but didn’t gain any acceptances, keep trying and i’m sure your time will come.

The Salon this year was our most successful to date with over 500 entrants submitting over 5000 images.

Because of the Covid restrictions we had to do the selections remotely and a big thanks goes out to Steve Bright of Brightimaging who leases us the software and once again hosted the Salon on our behalf.

Thanks also go to our 3 selectors – Eddy Lane ARPS DPAGB EFIAP APAGB, Leigh Woolford Hon.FWPF DPAGB EFIAP AWPF BPE3* and Ross McKelvey MFIAP MPAGB FBPE FIPF EFIAP/p who gave up their weekend to view and judge the images, a job well done.

Thanks to the PAGB and the BPE for their patronage.

I also want to say thanks to Denice Evans, Linda Cowen  and David Edwards for their invaluable assistance.  This Salon would not run without you.

To view the results gallery click here

The 2022 Salon will be open for entries on the 1st February 2022, hopefully we will see you then.

Colin Kelly

Hi Folks,

We have all been going through strange and testing times for the last 6 months due to this pandemic and we as the Committee have been taking as much advice as we can to best understand how we can move forward, following Thursday night’s meeting we now have a range of methods to keep the Club alive until we get Government clearance to work as we have in the past.

We have sought the advice of a Health & Safety advisor Chris Lloyd who is up to date with the current regulations, the summary is as follows: –

1. Two Metre Spacing is required inside the Club.
   We have measured and laid out the chairs to meet this requirement and we can achieve 3 row of 4 chairs in the main body with 3 chairs at the rear and still leave room for a visiting Lecturer/Judge and Chair at the front; all other chairs are stored away. Thus, we can only accommodate 15 members in an evening, and with the exception of a family bubble they should not be rearranged during an evening.
2. Cleaning.
   On the original proposal it was necessary to close the Club for 72 hours after use to ensure COVID elimination, this would have meant that the Club could be open on Tuesday, cleaned on Saturday ready for further use the following Tuesday.
   The Committee realised that was too restrictive so have now agreed a cleaning protocol which we will ensure takes place at the end of each meeting so that its is available for use the following day – we may need volunteers to assist.
3. The tearoom must remain closed for the time being and no refreshments will be served.
4. The toilets will be available – but only one person at a time will be allowed in each one and strict cleaning procedures will have to be followed by each person using the facilities.
5. A hand sanitisation station will be available in the foyer and all will be expected to sanitise their hands, on entry.
6. A One-Way system is not thought to be necessary as all members will enter at about the same time and leave together when the event is completed.
7. The darkroom should only be used by one person at a time, and as we are unsure about cleaning and sanitisation sprays in that area, we would expect it to be used only at 72-hour intervals. (Maybe Dewi can advise regarding sanitisation?)
8. Use of Clubroom for Studio work, providing the member is prepared to follow the cleaning protocols there seems no reason why this should not continue.

There is however a concern regarding the lighting, stands and modifiers; if these are used there is a concern regarding effective cleaning of these facilities especially if they are still hot and also spraying may have an effect on safety – in that case we consider that our studio equipment must be left unused for 72 hours following being used on a shoot.

The Committee realises that during this ongoing situation there will be limits as to how we can service the members – please see the Programme Notes . To this end we have decided that we will only charge a nominal £10 per member for this season, but in applying for and accepting membership you will agree to only attend if you can meet the requirements of the Health Declaration form attached and on joining we will have all contact details registered and we will note all who attend each event so that we can produce, if required by the PHO contact details following a COVID outbreak in the Club.

Roy Thomas,
Hon. General Secretary
01639 644757/07880710908
Roy17@btinternet.com